elusive imaginary creature
Janet Kuypers
2/25/17
“So I’ve got a friend
who’s had this problem
and they don’t know
if they should see a doctor.”
“So my friend thinks
her husband is
cheating on her.
what should she do?”
“So I’ve got a friend
who wants to kill their boss,
but they don’t want to get fired
and they don’t know what to do.”
We’ve all heard these stories before,
and we’ve probably all used that line
before too, saying, “I’ve got this friend”
when you’re really talking about yourself.
This elusive, imaginary creature
is from a line we’ve all used,
because we’re too afraid to say
we’ve got a problem.
We’re too afraid to share.
And think about it, what if
this elusive, imaginary creature
was real, and had all these problems
we ascribe just to get advice.
Horrific job. Cheating spouse.
Mounting debt. Back-stabbing friend.
A lump under the skin.
They’d be a basket case.
So why do we do it?
Why do we share problems
in the third person
to get some assistance
instead of asking for a hand?
I know we all think
we’re tough as nails,
we’ve got it all under control,
so maybe it’s because
we create this persona
and don’t want to shatter
this image we’ve created
to the rest of the world.
We’ve created this card house,
this delicate card house,
and we don’t want to see it fall down.
So we say, “I’ve got this friend” —
we create this elusive
imaginary creature
because, look at our lives.
Look at what we’ve made.
We surely don’t want to shatter
this image we’ve created
for us, and the rest of the world.
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